From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
I dreamt of Farfetch for the love of fashion. I was absolutely determined to create something in the intersection of both fashion and tech – my two passions.
A lot of people assume that I would choose not to have bipolar disorder; but I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, because I feel like all the ups and downs have formed who I am, and made be braver, tougher… more creative and more capable.
To me, writing a song is like a ball game. You bounce the ball back and forth until someone doesn't want to play anymore. When you make music, you want to make someone feel something.
The endurance of games like backgammon or chess lies in their continual presentation of an interesting problem. These strategy and decision-making games are like a well from which we draw insights. As a game designer, I can attest that while creating games, most rule combinations aren't inherently fascinating. Often, a game concept might initially seem uninteresting or static, and despite efforts to invigorate it, it remains lifeless.
We have these floods of ideas when we allow ourselves to slow down – you get this pent-up energy that flows out of you.
Video games are a medium through which we explore the nature and implications of computers. Recalling the early days of computers, large mainframes were used for serious tasks like missile trajectory calculations during the day. At night, enthusiasts would experiment with these machines, conjuring imaginary worlds of cave networks or empires, continuously discovering more engaging problems.
When I play, I try to embody the most primal state I can- that's when you're strongest, at your most powerful, intuitive and convincing. Too much information and analysis can actually get in the way of how you would naturally understand and feel your way through the structure of a long, complex piece of music.
That thing of me being anonymous and just the music that's moving the person.
Despite the absence of personal computers, tabletop games, board games, and card games filled this void. To me, the opportunity to govern a simulation of adulthood was immensely appealing, fostering significant cognitive and strategic development even in my youth.
What it means to be creative is pretty simple. It's to do something human, something generous, something that might not work. It has to be all 3 of those things. You will find creative accountants, politicians, housekeepers and engineers… being creative is to solve interesting problems!
For me, it wasn't about creating a traditional business plan but rather channelling my 1960s mindset—I aimed to amaze and captivate people. I wanted passersby to wonder, 'Have you seen that? What's going on there?' Ultimately, this desire to make an impression has been the connecting thread in everything I've undertaken.
Whenever I write a new song with somebody, it feels like the first time. I sometimes feel embarrassed, humiliated, like I don't know what I'm doing until we find a spark. You have to dare to go to this place where, even though you've done it before, it feels like you don't know what you're looking for until you find it.